Ghost: 'Anonymity Makes Our Lives Miserable'

A nameless ghoul discusses the difficulty of remaining anonymous these days.

Posted on Jul 02, 2013 03:41 pm

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A nameless ghoul from Ghost took some time to discuss the band's infamous anonymity, revealing just how hard it is to maintain it.
During a chat on Full Metal Jackie radio show, the ghoul also pointed out that the group members "aren't really from big bands as people tend to believe.""I think what were doing with our anonymity is very hard to maintain because it makes our lives miserable to some extent," he said (via Loudwire). "What we're working towards with everything else in terms of we want to put forth a grander show and in order to do so we need to reach a lot more people. Since we have been at the mercy of the good will of people liking the band for so long I think the further we reach above the radar, people that aren't into the band will be more prominent."
The ghoul continued, "For anybody that wishes to just f--k the band over it's very easy to do so, so I think it's just a matter of time before someone will go, 'Oh so youre anonymous, right?' and then they just take a photo and 'Here they are, here you go.'"I think as long as we don't screw with our music or our performances and how we like to present the band on a live basis - having an image and being covered up onstage is not the same thing as being anonymous, those are two different things but they go hand in hand in our case."
The latest Ghost record, "Infestissumam," dropped back in April as the group's sophomore release. Apart from topping the Swedish album chart, it also managed to peak at No. 28 on the US Billboard 200 chart.

It's probably best that they remain anonymous. It might be a bit harsh to say, but the whole reason Ghost got so much attention is because of their personas and anonymity. The magic would be sort of ruined if it turned out that it was 'Bob, Jerry and Klaus from Denmark'
That said, love the new album.

There's an interview where a ghoul asks the interviewer if he really wants to know their identities... after a short thinking he said no.. deep inside we dont want to know who they are! same story with KISS... when you saw who they really are you got a bit dissapointed.

It's not really harsh to say though, they admit that the idea is that they are putting on a show. It's the same idea of seeing a broadway musical. As long as the music doesn't suffer, there's no problem with having an image like that, and In my opinion the music is good.

The metal band Ghost (called Ghost BC. in the USA). They have released two albums so far. James from Metallica has been wearing some of their T-Shirts and Dave Grohl from Foo Fighters dedicated a song to them at a festival were i was at. That's why people think the band consists of famous musicians since they are quite new and already have a big fan-base under the "superstars".

Though I'm not a fan of Ghost, saying that they're not metal is pretty much equivalent to saying that Black Sabbath, early Judas Priest, early Iron Maiden, or even Mercyful Fate (their most obvious influence) aren't metal either. They're far from the most brutal thing out there, but they're definitely metal.

Name some, please. I'm not trying to call you out, but people who make comments like this never mention any of the music they're claiming to be out there, and I would really like to hear it because I'm apparently not finding it on my own.

Yeah no problem. I'm not saying Ghost is bad, but here's some of my favorite bands that came out in the last 5 years that are all better than Ghost:
Steelwing, Holy Grail, Cauldron, Christian Mistress, Castle, Volture, Skull Fist, White Wizzard, Katana, Mean Streak, Crucified Barbara, Portrait, Argus, Vanderbuyst, Stryker, Enforcer, Crystal Viper, Iron Curtain, Witchcurse, and Atlantean Kodex.
Sorry that most of those bands lean more toward the 80s style than the 70s, but there are many out there.

For 70's revival, two words - MARS VOLTA. I know it's not Metal, but it is the best revival band around, and they actually have a NEW sound. As for 80's revival - VEKTOR. Again, they actually have a NEW sound.

i love TMV but have you ever listened to king crimson and al de miola? check out 21st century schizoid man then listen to goliath and you'll shit yourself. when it comes to art, pieces get borrowed from everywhere. again, TMV rocks and im with you that theres a metal aspect to them

the sword
kylesa
torche
baroness
witchcraft
Texas Hippie Coalition
Honky
Mount Carmel
just to name a few,
go on wikipeida and look at the list of sludge metal doom metal and stoner rock/metal bands, that's the sound you want.

A pretty cool band with a real cool sound and feel who get a lot of their coolness from their image and anonymity. I know that sound superficial and ridiculous, but every time I listen to Ghost, I visualize their personas and their image enhances the music for me. It's like seeing a live show on Broadway; the music would be the same regardless of what they dressed like, but you'd lose a lot of the effect if you saw Wicked and instead of being dressed like a witch, she was dressed in some sweatpants and a t shirt.

Once people got photos of the guys in Slipknot, that didn't take away from their fans still wanting them to wear the masks at shows. This whole thing reminds me of a combination of the KISS makeup thing and Slipknot's masks. It's a gimmick and it works. Let's all just roll with it. No harm done.

It does change how the band works though. Some diehard fans have already figured out some of the members, but what is interesting is that sometimes the lead singer will dress up as one of the other members and conduct interviews. It means that he can talk about the bands direction without loosing this moody and never-seen-except-on-stage character.